The 2,2-dinitropropyl methacrylate (DNPMA) was synthesized by esterification of α-methacrylic acid with 2,2-dinitropropanol. The free-radical bulk polymerization of DNPMA in the presence of 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the nonisothermal mode. Kissinger, Ozawa and Barrett methods were applied to determine the activation energy (Ea) and the reaction order of the free-radical polymerization. The results showed that the temperature of exothermic polymerization peaks increased with increasing heating rate. With increasing the molar ratio of monomer/initiator and the heating rate, the reaction order of nonisothermal polymerization was approximately equal to 1. The average Ea value from Kissinger and Ozawa methods (77.74±1.07 kJ/mol) was smaller than the value from the Barrett method (Ea=102.36 kJ/mol).